


400 Miles

by carols



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Chatting & Messaging, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Long-Distance Relationship, Mission Fic, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Recovery, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-29
Updated: 2015-08-02
Packaged: 2018-04-11 23:31:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4456685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carols/pseuds/carols
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of how James Buchanan Barnes made peace with his old and new life while exchanging messages with a SHIELD agent. Or, the story of how James Buchanan Barnes ended up finding a friend while hacking into a stolen HYDRA laptop.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Movement soothed him.

It scared him to realize that when he did, in so many levels.

He sat on the floor of a small motel room outside town. The place was dirty and depressing, small stains of black and grey covered up every surface his eyes could reach, which wasn't a lot to begin with. The room only had a bed that barely fit there, a nightstand by its right side with a lamp on top that would flicker every now and then. The door to the bathroom didn't open all the way because of the bed, and once it did, showed nothing but the absolute necessity.

But there was a window that allowed him to see the road, and he enjoyed that for some reason he couldn't quite comprehend yet. The trees and the occasional sound of cars speeding by, no voices or anyone approaching. He knew, of course, at least three ways from which he could escape that room without being seen. In case someone was following him. Following The Winter Soldier.

And that was what put him on edge. He didn't know who he was. He wasn't the man on the old pictures put up high and big at that exhibit. He also wasn't an assassin – didn't want to be one. He had his old life presented to him through pictures, objects, videos and audios, but even though they matched with the random images that would pop up in his head during the rare times he could sleep, it didn't felt like his. He couldn't take ownership over memories that had so many emotions he didn't know how to feel.

So the realization of becoming calmer scared him. Because he was feeling something, and that something was good. In the mess of old and new memories his head was, he couldn't place the last time he felt any level of good, couldn't relate to that. Especially if good came from a world where he had spent the last seventy years getting nothing but pain, orders and deaths.

That afternoon, he reached the window and closed the stained curtains as soon as he got into the bedroom. The building was mostly empty, his enhanced hearing could place two persons down the hall and the receptionist, but that seemed like it. He let the bag he was carrying fall onto the bed, and opened it to reveal some manilla folders and a laptop.

HYDRA had managed to hold him for a long time and make him a weapon, but it had also give him more then they should. If they were thinking about every possible scenario, maybe teaching him some things wasn't smart. He knew, of course, that anyone working for HYDRA had a hard time believing they could be caught, made fool of. And they sure didn't believe he could escape. But there he was. Doing exactly both things.

 

* * *

 

"You start your training next week."

"And how is that a good idea? Sorry, it kind of stopped making sense when you started talking."

Eleanor was not someone you would expect to sass other people. And she, indeed, rarely did. Unless people meant friends she'd known for so long they were actually the closest thing she had to family. Natasha Romanov fit that exact category.

The redhead rolled her eyes as their discussion hit the same point. It had been like that for at least two months. And it pissed her off because both women knew there was no point in arguing, there was no other possible solution.

"El, it's not like you got that many options. You have to do it." Eleanor had her laptop open and, when Natasha appeared in her office and took a place at the black chair in front of her, she stopped typing but didn't close the laptop. Eleanor was the kind of person who would hold conversations while typing away with any sort of gadget she had in hands at the time, but Natasha knew this time was because her friend was both aware of the conversation they were going to have and not interested at all. Hiding behind said gadgets was something Eleanor did a lot as well.

"But-" Eleanor sighed and covered her face with both hands. Her next words came out muffled. "I don't want to shoot anything. I don't want to hold any part of a gun."

Natasha gave her a sympathetic smile even though she couldn't see.

"You accepted a job with a bunch of superheroes and you expected to never touch a gun?"

Eleanor didn't respond because, yes, when she put it like that, it sounded really stupid. She moved her hands from her face to the top of the laptop and closed it, pushing it a bit far from her. When she properly looked at her friend, with her shoulders slumped, arms folded and a expression that had 'I give up' all over, Natasha knew she had finally won that fight.

Eleanor had her brown curly hair tied in a neat ponytail, because she hated when it fell between her and the screen she was looking at. But her glasses were always a bit crooked, she never noticed.

"El, I'm sorry. But the only reason you haven't gotten into basic training yet is because SHIELD fell, and we are adapting and Stark doesn't know a lot about training new agents." Eleanor managed to give a short laugh at that.

"I know. Look, I got it. It's just because... Well, it's been so long. I was actually starting to believe I could just sit here, break through system securities and find all I could on HYDRA. Give to you guys and that would be it."

She was helping with missions, doing good for being on the right side of the fight, having some fun because she enjoyed the challenge and the satisfaction of breaking code from HYDRA, and was accomplishing all that from the comfort of her apartment in the Avengers Tower, or her office just some floors down. All with the incredible and apparently infinite technology Tony Stark could provide. She was helping in her own, secure, way.

"That could be it." Natasha said, grabbing her phone from where it lay on top of the wooden table between them. She clicked a few times over the screen and turned it to Eleanor as she spoke. "But we came to the conclusion that we may need you to start going on missions with us. Not all of them, but some."

The pictures that were in front of her came from the inside of the last base she had taken files from. She wasn't used to see what they looked like and only knew where this photo was taken because the location was written on the bottom right corner. For her, it was usually just a monochromatic point that indicated a location in a digital map. It was made of pixels. This very real place had so many computers, and from the disposition they were in, didn't seem all connected. That should be it.

"Me, Tony and Clint could go over it. Maybe find more relevant information." Natasha continued, knowing Eleanor had already figured it out. "But the team could use you and your far more deep knowledge to make it faster."

Before Eleanor could gather enough words to say a full sentence, Natasha had stood up, stuck her phone in her jeans pocket, and walked to the door. She stopped there and turned to her friend. The look on her face was pure fun.

"Next week. Seventh floor. 7am. Sharon Carter. Don't be late." Eleanor groaned and sinked into her chair. Sharon was going to have so much fun, Eleanor would end up throwing up and the closest trash bin at the end of the first day. Natasha left with a bigger smile.

Eleanor ended up working with The Avengers in a unusual way, but she supposed unusual was the only way anyone could do that. When SHIELD was up and running, she was discovered in her first year of college by a casual Black Widow dressed just like any other student. Except she lead Eleanor to a distant table in the campus coffeehouse, ordered a black coffee, and enquired her on how a nineteen year old found so many securities breaches in a much complicated system. Back then, SHIELD was a complete secret, and Eleanor only had tried because there was a not so legal forum discussion on it and nobody managed to get in. She liked the challenge and liked reminders of how smart she was.

After that, her job at SHIELD was never official, just some small parts of a mission usually given to her by Nat or Clint, separated in a way she could never see the whole picture, which was good and safe for both sides. Even though the missions took just a few hours of her week, both Nat and Clint would check up on her regularly after they found out she didn't had anyone to do that. Eleanor was not used to having people care that much about her.

But then, SHIELD fell, Natasha called her and after two weeks of analyzing all the files Nat spread over the web, Eleanor found a link to the first HYDRA base of what seemed to be an infinite number. Maria Hill and a small number of trusted agents did a bigger investigation and it turned to be a successful mission. Tony Stark called her at 2am on a Wednesday to offer a job and "a way out of that hideous dormitory". She didn't think the dormitory was all that hideous, but she couldn't complain about the place he got her.

From: Clint [19:48]

Someone finally accepted training! We would have dragged you in there anyway.

At the end of that week, she finally got the text message Clint was bound to send her. She smiled at the screen, closed her apartment door with her foot and practically fell on the sofa, laptop bag still in her hands and all. Her phone screen lit up with another message.

From: Clint [19:50]

Seriously, congrats. You'll do great.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This idea seemed to fun to pass. Of course I would end up writing Captain America fanfic.
> 
> English is not my first language so, in case of errors feel free to tell me.


	2. Chapter 2

To the news and any civilian, SHIELD fell and it would remain like that. To anyone involved in it before and not a traitor, SHIELD was getting on its feet at the underground floors of a building that belonged to Tony Stark, of course. It was a ten-floor construction that had actual offices and people with actual jobs, none of them connected to any superhero, according to Stark. Eleanor had a hard time believing much could be disconnected from superheroes nowadays.

She had been to one SHIELD base years ago, just to deliver a hard disk to Clint. Fury wanted to meet her, officially. They had talked before. She stayed inside the facility for about two hours and her memories registered long grey and white walls, a lot of suits and only smirks or serious faces. Agents talked through earphones, but rarely at each other.

The building she was now in had a completely different atmosphere. There weren’t so many computers, but a lot of manilla folders being delivered and passed, the number of agents had decreased immensely, the walls were all white, but the tables were wooden and everything had a more human feeling. She supposed that was trauma from being to big and betrayed.

The gym was two floors down the reception and Eleanor was actually surprised it looked so much like any other gym she had ever seen. For some reason, she expected flying robots and weird wi-fi connected weights. It was still Stark stuff anyway.

"Go ahead, punch me." There was a line she wasn't used to get.

Eleanor was pure sweat. She was wearing an all black gym uniform given to new agents and every part of it was too tight. Everything hurt too, and she was learning there were so many muscles she didn't even know existed, who would ever think it could hurt too. There were other three girls and two boys in her group, and one of the boys was just as out of shape as hers so she didn't felt so bad.

Four agents were training them. They did everything from running to push-ups (she knew it was hard but not that hard), to eventually working in pairs. After a five-minute rest, Sharon Carter stood in front of her, much more comfortable in a similar tight uniform and not looking like she was in any kind of pain, expecting a punch with both hands open.

The thing was, Eleanor didn't like to get violent. And she knew it was super cliche and stupid and everything, but it was what it was. She put flying insects that entered her house in jars so she could set them free by her window, for God's sake. But well, she couldn't put neither her or Sharon in a jar to get away from this. She took a deep breath. Sharon raised an eyebrow and looked at her expectantly. She tucked her thumb under her fingers and remembered the instructions they got at the beginning of the lesson. You want to aim with your first two knuckles, they need to be aligned with your forearm. Posture is important for effectiveness and protection. Her hip should move for equilibrium as well.

She did the movement as best she could, confident for a few seconds that it'd go right, and then Sharon's hand shook and the blond agent had both eyebrows arched, a satisfied smile playing on her lips. It hadn't been an awesome punch, not even a too good one. But it hadn't been a mess and everyone, Eleanor included, was surprised.

"Okay. You're a fast learner." Sharon said, dropping her hands and reaching for Eleanor. They had known each other for a long time now. Sharon started giving her some missions after Nat and Clint too. "You need to look at your wrist. It needs to follow the movement so it doesn't break." as she put Eleanor's hand in position and simulated how she should move her arm, some of the authority in her voice faded and Eleanor was breathing a bit better. "Also, don't be afraid of hitting hard. Use your strength." Sharon was aware of how Eleanor didn't want to do that, but as the prospect of throwing up at the end of day distanced from her, Eleanor might admit to herself it wasn't all that bad.

Four hours later, Eleanor could throw a decent punch, did some push-ups and didn't felt like she was dying so much and was starting to believe she would melt in a puddle of her own sweat. Sharon dismissed the group with instructions on what they should eat and do to be able do handle exercises on the next day.

"Don't worry. We are not getting to the guns until next week." she said to Eleanor as she unwrapped the bandage from her hands. Eleanor gave her a small smile.

"Thanks for the heads up."

"Sharon is really good shooting, you don't have to worry." The voice came from the opposite direction, and both women turned their heads to look at freaking Captain America propped against the white wall.

Eleanor heard Sharon laugh and hide the smirk that wanted to spread across her face. They were so in love it was ridiculous. She got up and tried to get dirt from her knees (she fell sometimes) as she controlled her expression. She made jokes to Sharon, but she sure as hell wasn't going to make them to the Captain.

"Well, if you didn't say that she was going to want to prove it. And I'm pretty okay with not having to deal with that today, so" he laughed with her and as he got close from where they were, Eleanor got her bag and crossed it against her chest.

"He wouldn't dare doubt." neither of them touched, but they moved in a manner it was obvious they knew their way around each other. Eleanor said good night to both of them, telling them how all she wanted was to take a shower and using that as the reason she was in such a rush, which wasn't any lie. Sharon shouted "Don't forget the instructions, El!"

All she did was give her thumbs up without turning around to them, Steve laughed.

 

* * *

 

The rain and wind hit hard against the window. It wouldn’t fully close, some drops wet the floor as the curtains moved with the wind, thunders rumbled and lightning illuminated the room as the lamp next to him flickered.

He appreciated the rain, and the effect it had of holding people off. They tended to give up or delay whatever they needed to do until the rain stopped, right now it didn’t made a lot of sense to him as why. But he could use anyone dropping plans of following him at any time. Especially when he was about to do something that could be dangerous.

He sat on the bed with the laptop he had stolen in front of him. He would need to be fast. Disconnect any way of being located was the first thing he had to do. With luck, if someone tried, it would only give away his general location, nothing too specific. He booted it up.

As HYDRA computers used to work, in about five seconds he had a black screen in front of him he could work with. He turned off all the basic and obvious locations plugins agents always kept turned on as protocol, and then moved to the ones hidden behind layers of securities. These ones could only be accessed externally if the person looking for them had this specifically computer as its goal. Considering he stole it from an abandoned research base some weeks ago, he doubted anyone was missing it.

The whole process took two minutes, nothing more. According to his plan, he would now find a way to get into HYDRA database and collect as many files he could on anyone that worked with or on him.

He had no identity. The Winter Soldier. James. Barnes. Bucky. None of the names made him feel any better. When he tried to force his memories to make sense, his head hurt and he had enough pain there was no need to induce more himself. So maybe trying to walk a line he already had would clear things up. He had to do it alone, but he had to do it. That was, until a notification popped up at the top right corner of the screen.  
  


From: encrypted_0954536 [00:26] | [location not available]

You guys don’t know when to give up, do you?

 

* * *

 

Eleanor got herself under the shower and did nothing but stay there for a long time. Walking back to the tower was a 15-minute tiring walk, and the constant flow of water relaxed her and numbed the pain. She got so distracted she almost missed the bip her laptop emitted. Almost. She had her computers silent, most of the time. Partially because she worked better with silence, but mostly because she wanted to know when it made any sound, it was important.

Tony Stark found this is dramatic and would find a breach so that he could blast rock music and the most random times and make her furious. It was the kind of fun you would expect coming from him. She responded messing his door codes and watched as he had to break into his own office. So when no guitar solo came through the sound system in the apartment, she knew he had nothing to do with it.

Turning off the water, she wrapped herself in a towel and didn't mind her wet floor on the way to her bedroom. Her laptop was open and sitting at the table next to be, white letters on the black screen had turned red and information stopped coming after someone cut the connection from the other side.  
  


>> Location on H1SL45 is available.

>> Downloading patch..................100%

>> Location: North America

>> Location: USA

>> Connection is down. Updating...

>> Server is no longer connected.

 

She muttered a curse under her breath as she brought the laptop to her lap and started working. It had come in about one minute ago. Eleanor knew disconnecting her was not easy at all. The H1SL45 meant this device had been on the HYDRA base that was located in Scandinavia, and it was a mobile one. The Avengers emptied the place two weeks before. They were all sure the place was empty before leaving the rest to the new SHIELD. Whoever was behind that device had come in while the mission was happening. That person managed to get through The Avengers and not be seen.

Maybe Eleanor should be scared. The thought crossed her mind as she typed commands and tried to reconnect. There should still be a weak signal. HYDRA computers had a lot of those, so many it was hard even for her to remember them all. She kept a list of common ones present in all devices. A few seconds passed and the message her computer sent back was still a red one.  
  


>> Server not found.

  
Fear went away just as anger reached her. She wouldn’t let HYDRA get away with anything, not even a goddamn computer. Not when she was certain connection wasn’t completely lost. She tried the last security layer. Not all of them had that one, so could be it.

Another bip echoed in her room and she let a out a breath she didn’t realized holding. Relief made her a little more confident.   
  


>> Server connected.

>> Message system online.

>> Location unauthorized.

  
“Oh, okay.” The last two messages were surprising. Someone had actually disabled all locations mechanisms, but wasn’t aware or forgot about a message system. Protocol and good measure meant sending this to Maria Hill. Or Nat. But Eleanor was pissed so, of course, protocol flew out of the window. 

From: el_wright (sent as encrypted_0954536) [00:26]

You guys don’t know when to give up, do you?

  
Yeah, sure. Sending that to a HYDRA agent that was probably as angered as her could only be the best idea she ever had. The only answer she thought she would get was some kind of threat. Horrifying enough she would have no other option but turn her computer to Hill. There would be debrief too, and some days at home not allowed to work. Some shouting at her might be included. But the answer Eleanor got was, to say the least, unexpected. 

From: H1SL45 (username not identified) [00:29]

I’m not HYDRA.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The punch lessons came from Google (and maybe some YouTube videos) and the whole coding process came from too many movies.
> 
> (Thank you for reading this!)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We now have a work skin! I figure it would be fun. And I kind of wanted to give a social media feel to it? Chapters 1 and 2 have been updated with this skin as well, check it out.
> 
> (Thank you for reading!)

The Winter Soldier was a methodical cold-hearted assassin that followed orders without questioning them, every step calculated, none given that was not necessary or deadly. From what he remembered, James Barnes was a man turned soldier with less care about orders but still under it. He figured the difference between them was the last one made a choice, not that he had had many of those. But he couldn't tell which of them had sent that message.

To: encrypted_0954536 [00:29]

I’m not HYDRA.

He wasn't. He knew whoever was on the other side was not trying to find his location, there was no warning and he was sure all the plugins were offline. If it was HYDRA on the other line, it wouldn't be much talk. They were never too good with that. If it were them, his door would have been knocked and he'd be on the floor with a gun pointed at his head.

And if it wasn't them, he had no reason to continue this conversation. No reason at all. His only goal was the organization that didn't allow him to die in peace, that turned him into a weapon and gave him more years of regret he didn't need. He should ignore whoever came his way, he was doing that. Still, the will to separate himself from HYDRA, to tell someone he didn't belong to them, to find in him anything he could connect with and call that his decision... Maybe it was what made him respond the message. The fact he could.

From: encrypted_0954536 [00:31]

I have a hard time believing that. Who are you?

For that, he genuinely didn't have a answer. He was taught not to question, mostly because missions were given to him after they had been talked through with supervisors, directors and anyone who wanted to hurt without getting blood on their hands. But this wasn't any thought out plan with all its various possibilities studied and handled. So he answered.

To: encrypted_0954536 [00:34]

I can't tell you. This has nothing to do with you. It would be better to leave it at that.

From: encrypted_0954536 [00:36]

If you're not HYDRA I guess you have nothing to hide. If you're doing this just for fun, I would highly recommend you to step away, you don't want to get into this mess.

That warning would have been a lot better some seventy years ago. Now, it did nothing to him, calling HYDRA a mess was too nice. It destroyed him.

To: encrypted_0954536 [00:39]

They should have thought about that before giving me a metal arm.

 

* * *

  
Eleanor almost let her laptop fall as her hands covered her mouth and her eyes went wide open. Holy. Shit. She had a lot of HYDRA files on research subjects. There's only one of those projects involving a metal arm man.

Her first thought was the search Captain and Sam were doing. They had been trying to find him for months now, just to fail at it every time. His steps would always vanish at some point. Nat told her The Winter Soldier moved like a ghost, had been one for the last seventy years, and Eleanor had seen his file. It was huge, the procedures he was put under felt painful enough just by reading it, and most of them occurred during the war, when minimizing pain was not a priority. For HYDRA, it was probably never a priority. She though of them as organization that induced pain rather than preventing it.

And then there was his missions, which belong to the bigger part of his files. He had a lot of kills under his name, but the reports made him look nothing more than a weapon, he had no choice over any mission he assigned for. Seeing what had been done to him was difficult, it made her sick and more determined to stop HYDRA before they hurt anyone else.

To: H1SL45 (username not identified) [00:42]

I need some sort of confirmation of your identity. Your intentions.

He had saved the Captain's life in Washington, the footage had given Eleanor enough to believe he was no longer just the Soldier. But he had a HYDRA laptop and didn't want to be found, still a lost man. Still unsure.

To: H1SL45 (username not identified) [00:43]

I have ways of tracking this device. If you confirm your identity, this may be easier.

To be honest, she was running out of ways of connecting to a location. She had stopped trying once she opened the message system, some sacrifices were needed to get any kind of information he could give.

From: H1SL45 (username not identified) [00:45]

How do I know I can trust you?

She sighed. She was wrong about threat being what would get her in a debrief getting shouted at by Nat or Clint – what she sent him next was.

To: H1SL45 (username not identified) [00:47]

I'm with The Avengers. Captain Rogers has been trying to find you for three months now.

From: H1SL45 (username not identified) [00:48]

The last track he has of me is a note. A month ago.

She had to check. There was only so much The Avengers told her, a note would not be it. She couldn't go down to her office because she would need to put some clothes on and it looked like she was stretching his patience too thin.

"Hey, JARVIS?"

"Yes, Ms. Wright?" The AI voice sounded throughout the room, and Eleanor continued without taking her eyes off the screen, as if he would vanish if she did.

"I know I don't have clearance for the search on Mr. Barnes, but could you check the last track they had on that?" The AI went silent and she hoped it didn't meant notifying any avenger.

"It's a note." The AI responded a few seconds later. "It reads 'Don't follow me', and it's a month old. There have been no updates on any files to this case since." So it was really him. There was a mixture of relief and worry in her chest, confusion getting in the way of thinking straight.

"Thanks, JARVIS."

"My pleasure. You now have clearance on that case, by the way." she smiled a little. At least JARVIS wasn't freaking out.

To: H1SL45 (username not identified) [00:52]

Okay. I can confirm that.

From: H1SL45 (username not identified) [00:53]

Good.

Her fingers hovered over the keyboard for a few moments while she debated whether to write the next words. Looking at the conversation, it wouldn't be the riskiest she had ever been.

To: H1SL45 (username not identified) [00:55]

You don't have to do this on your own. We could help you.

From: H1SL45 (username not identified) [00:56]

I have to do this alone. Steve thinks he will get his friend back, I am not the man he lost.

Judging from the shocks he received before and after each mission, his memories should be a blur. Disconnected fragments of moments, of a different time. She took a deep breath and accepted she was in too deep. If she was backing out, that should have happened so many messages ago. And they wanted her to become a SHIELD agent, which would lead to making decisions and taking chances. Eleanor ignored the fact they should be made under a supervisor.

To: H1SL45 (username not identified) [00:57]

Fine. We can have it your way.

To: H1SL45 (username not identified) [00:57]

But I do need to set some grounds here. I have information to help you. It's going to be much faster than you looking for it by yourself, trust me.

From: H1SL45 (username not identified) [00:59]

I have trust issues.

She could have laughed at that. Maybe she would, were the circumstances far different.

To: H1SL45 (username not identified) [01:00]

I'm the best chance you have. I'll notify Captain Rogers of this conversation, and I'll also notify him of how you don't want to be found. I don't think that will stop him. But even though he's not the only one looking for you, he's the only one that means well. You probably know that.

From: H1SL45 (username not identified) [01:05]

Do you know who is following me?

To: H1SL45 (username not identified) [01:07]

The government would love to have someone they can blame for their poor job. I can work on that. But giving your trust issues, think you can login back tomorrow? Send me a message at any time after 4pm. I know we are on the same timezone. I'll have something by then.

To: H1SL45 (username not identified) [01:08]

If you don't login, I'll assume you don't want my help or protection.

From: H1SL45 (username not identified) [01:10]

I'll talk to you tomorrow.

And he logged off. Eleanor stared at the last message and slowly regained senses of her surroundings. It was one in the morning, she was still in a towel and feeling sore for sitting in a terrible position for so long after a full day of working out. Letting out a sigh, she supported her elbows on her thighs and rubbed her eyes with both hands, tiredness catching up to her.

After gathering enough courage to get up, Eleanor changed into comfortable clothes, brushed her teeth and called JARVIS again. The AI set up an alarm for her at 6am, and organized a meeting with Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov and Maria Hill. It would be great.


	4. Chapter 4

It was almost 8am when the elevator opened on the eighteenth floor’s lobby at the Avengers Tower with a faint sound that broke the absolute silence of the empty space. However, the only person that would be interested in it didn’t even noticed the doors opening.

Eleanor was fidgeting her blouse, checking for a spot she might have left unpressed. The thin blue fabric was the best she could come up with at six in the morning, her body still sore and a lot less sleep hours to carry her through the day than she’d like. Usually, her wardrobe choices ranged from t-shirts to long sleeve shirts during work days, both combined with jeans and a pair of flat shoes, giving she was constantly lacking sleep and spent most of time behind a computer by herself. But being alone didn’t seem something she would be able to do today, and she needed to pass some sort of professionalism to support her behavior hours ago. So, a blouse.

“Ms. Wright,” She lifted her head in a sudden movement, startled by JARVIS’ loud voice. “Your meeting starts in five minutes.”

“Yes. Okay. Thank you, JARVIS.”

“Good luck, Ms. Wright.” She let out a nervous laugh.

Eleanor stepped forward, the long corridor ahead of her was just closed doors, no sound, no voices, not a sign she had company. She heard the elevators doors closing with a snap,  held her laptop tighter and thought it was really just too late to give up now.

All of her meetings with the avengers had a certain routine in which they fell and worked for everyone. She would set one every time she had enough data to Maria Hill, so that her team worked as a bridge between Eleanor's work and an actual mission. They had a digital map updated at every meeting, and Eleanor would add a point to the location of the new base, give a brief explanation on the kind of work she had found there and answer to their questions. Depending on the specialization of said base, each avenger could have a better look at the files or not.

The room 1802 was big enough for all the avengers, all white walls expect for one with a large window, a breathtaking view from New York. At its center, a round wooden table, by which Steve Rogers, Maria Hill and Natasha Romanov sat quietly, looking at her as she closed the door behind her.

“This is really early for you, El” Oh, Jesus. She was so scared it was probably written on her forehead. She didn’t look at Nat until she finished opening her laptop and booted it up.

“Well, I’m sorry. It’s urgent.” Nat lost the smirk and Eleanor couldn't decided if it was good or bad.

“What kind of base do we have now? Another research?” Eleanor shook her head to Hill’s question. She typed a few commands, hoping she would get it right on the first try since it was something she was still getting the hang of. Stark complicated things just because he could understand them.

When she finished, her desktop content was hovering the table, its folders and files all blue tones, some transparency and volume. She was still getting used to that, to be honest. Once it was all settled, she looked up to the three slightly confused persons in front of her.

Nat had a cup of coffee in her hand, steam coming out from the top. Next to her, Hill had a tablet and looked over at it every few seconds. And then there was Steve, looking like he had no idea why he was needed in this meeting if it wasn't about a new base. So she went ahead.

“There’s a big possibility you guys will not like what I’m going to tell you.” She started, the act of talking distracting her from being so nervous. “I did found something, but it was no new base. I was monitoring every device from the one in Scandinavia, a code that kept them connected and sent me an encrypted location. Yesterday I got a warning of a connection down in one of them.”

She clicked one the folders on her desktop, and screenshots of her terminal as she tried to connect the device appeared on the display, big enough for all of them to read.

“It’s a portable device, and it had a message system. This system has never shown up at any other devices we have, I am running a code now to see if I can find some kind of pattern.”

Now for the last crazy part. She took a deep breath, but before speaking, Steve’s strong voice cut her.

“Did anyone send any kind of message?”

“Yes. That’s the reason I asked you to come here. Bucky is the one with the device.”

Eleanor watched as Steve’s expression went from confusion, surprise and determination. For a few moments, she expected his shield to appear out of nowhere along with his uniform and a whole mission to get his friend. It looked like he was having a hard time deciding what he should ask first, so Maria Hill was the first one to speak.

“Is he with HYDRA?” If she caught the look Steve gave her, she showed no reaction.

“I thought he was. At first.”

“How did you found out it was him?” Nat had been quiet ever since she noticed Eleanor was both serious and scared, so when she finally said something, Eleanor clicked on the second folder and pressed the enter.

There it was, the whole conversation.

“I told you, I don’t think you’ll approve this. But I talked to him, checked the note. My location is safe, didn’t look for his after we started talking.”

Eleanor folded her arms and walked to the window, stealing a few seconds of calm as they read the conversation. Clouds covered the sun and the city looked gray, like it could rain at any time. She had an idea, just wasn’t sure they would agree.

“Eleanor, what exactly do you intend to do?” Hill asked, and Eleanor turned to look at them.

“I want to help him.”

“You don’t know what he wants to do.” Natasha answered, both women ignoring an unsettled Steve waiting to jump in the discussion.

“He is doing the same thing I am. I know what he wants.” She had thought about it as the night went on and her eyes refused to stay closed. “He wants to take down HYDRA just as bad as we want. More than us, probably.”

That seemed to be the cue for Steve. He stood up and mirrored Eleanor, arms folded and a hard look on his face.

“Can you find his location?”

“I can try, but there’s not much I can do if he manages to disable every system I can connect with. He’s good, HYDRA trained him to do that, I read his files.” He nodded. “And I’m not doing it.”

Eleanor had been waiting a suspension order, but that had not come. All of them were too involved in Bucky’s situation. Steve wanted his friend, Hill wanted information on HYDRA, Nat worried about Steve and had some back story Eleanor had never heard every part of. So her idea was very simple.

“He wants to do this alone, and I intend on letting him. He can work with us, somehow. Have his revenge, try to gain back his memories.”

“Ms. Wright, as you said it yourself, we’re not the only ones looking for him.”

“I know, but we’re the only ones talking to him. If I locate him now, he’s going to run. I’m not sure how bad is going to be for us to find him again, but you can be sure as hell it’s going to be bad.”

She  engaged in a staring contest with an angry Maria Hill, not wanting to back out, and watched as the other woman’s expression turned into an amused one she had never seen or thought capable.

“I like that one. OK.”

“OK? Hill, you can’t...”

“Steve, I think Mr. Barnes had enough decisions being made for him. Wright managed to get him to trust her enough to talk, so let's call ourselves lucky and go from there.”

Nat sighed, the cup of coffee in front of her untouched.

“I agree with Maria and Eleanor. This is as close as we’re going to get to him for now. At least it’s Eleanor, she can keep us updated at all times.”

Eleanor waited as Steve struggled for words, not entirely convinced, but Nat seemed to get something through his head.

“We won’t let him get hurt, Steve.” she added, and he gave them a small nod.

 

* * *

 

He usually woke up in a rush, scared by his own screams in dark nightmares, machines that closed around his head, froze his body, made every part of him hurt until he couldn’t feel them anymore. He was not used to soft beds, to silence and waking up without memory loss.

He waited as his heart beat slowed down and the room around him felt familiar and safe. The laptop was still open on the unmade bed. He moved from his spot on the floor and looked at the screen. It was 3pm and, as the time to talk to the stranger got closer, he was still not sure of what to do.

Steve Rogers was a constant presence in his old memories, enough that it was the first one that was clear to him. He was his friend. Steve Rogers was able to pull him out of Winter Soldier and start his awakening under HYDRA captivity. He knew he wanted to help, but he saw no way it would be a good idea, not when the man he hoped to rescue was lost beyond saving.

He had no doubt the stranger had more files on HYDRA than he did. The avengers had enough reason to destroy those bases and none of his knowledge were given to him for more than just necessities for a mission to be accomplished. He knew a lot, but it was too specific, too closed on a small part of a huge organization. Names, kill orders, weapons, without the reason behind them.

He had stayed up until at least four hours ago, looking at the files he did have, and he had an outline of a mission in case he decided to ignore the help offer. Still, something felt wrong about declining it. His mission was too based on guesses mixed with memories he couldn’t quite place in a timeline.

He got up and reached a bag at the other end of the bed. There was a half eaten sandwich, because sandwiches felt like something normal people would eat, and because he was not normal, so the food still made his stomach clench. From what he could remember, HYDRA gave him the necessary to keep him moving and it was a lot of unflavored food.

As he gave a second bite, the laptop emitted a notification. He rushed to the device, looking for confirmation he shouldn’t have trusted the stranger and that they had a lock on his location.

 

**You have a new email**

From: eleanor.wright@starkindustries.com

To: temp_087532+encrypted_h1ls45@starkindustries.com

Subject: It’s safe

Hey, I’m sorry. I know it’s not the time we set up, I wanted to give you this email adress so you can contact me when I’m not online.

I still have a connection to this device you got, so I made you a temporary email you can answer.

He was well aware not everyone was bad as HYDRA. He knew there were people that wanted to help him, and he was learning to accept the fact. The stranger who had willingly reveled her identity as a woman named Eleanor was pushing a bit too far, though. Still not believing it, he logged on the message system and there she was. Online. Name, nickname, last name, Stark Industries and all.

To: El Wright [15:22]

Why are you doing this?

From: El Wright [15:22]

Doing what? Helping you?

To: El Wright [15:24]

Yes.

From: El Wright [15:26]

To be honest: Steve is going to kill if I’m not nice to you.

From: El Wright [15:27]

And also because I want to.

He couldn’t quite wrap his head around any of the reasons she provided. People wanted to experiment on him, not make sure he was being treated well. And how could she be so sure he was who he said he was?

To: El Wright [15:32]

You should not trust someone you don’t know that easily. I can get everything on you now.

From: El Wright [15:34]

You could try.

From: El Wright [15:34]

Look, I’m sorry. If you want me to talk less, I can do that. But I’m trying to show you I can be trusted. No one is coming for you, you need to trust me so the situation remains like that.

From: El Wright [15:36]

I’m not asking for a lot of trust, really.

He thought about the times he heard “Mission report” and the screams and desperate looks from those he killed. He remembered some, others had been too important for him to be allowed the memory, so it was just a blur. They all meant government putting him in jail, and even though he felt like he belonged in there, he also remembered that no one ever gave him the option of not killing.

To: El Wright [15:42]

I think I can try.

To: El Wright [15:44]

I found files here on people I know, it's clearly missing some parts.

To: El Wright [15:45]

Can you help me find more information?

If he was going to do it, the sooner the information came the better.

From: El Wright [15:43]

That’s good. Yes, I can. I can switch back to a encrypted username too, if it makes it easier for you.

To: El Wright [15:45]

It’s Eleanor, right?

From: El Wright [15:46]

Yes. How should I call you?

He didn’t think he had ever met anyone named Eleanor. The image he had built of a stranger man in a HYDRA uniform talking him into giving his location had faded a bit, felt less real. He didn’t try to build an image to that woman. He did realized, however, she was the first person besides him to wonder what his name was.

To: El Wright [15:54]

James is fine.


End file.
